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Expendables 3 Blu-ray Review

By Greg Robinson

The Film

When it was first announced, Sylvester Stallone's Expendables project sounded like a brilliant idea.  Round up a bunch of action movie veterans - guys who may be now getting on in years but who can still kick your ass - and drop them into one thrilling adventure together. Next, mix in some new blood to attract the younger viewers. Add bullets and explosions. Stir and enjoy.

On paper, it's a formula that can't miss - a rock solid plan. In and out. Do the job, and then you get paid. By the time the box office dust settles, you'll be sitting on a beach... earning twenty percent. However, like the best laid plans in, well, every single one of the movies these guys are famous for, there's always a hitch. A complication no one saw coming. In the case of The Expendables, that hitch is over-indulgence. As it turns out, you can have too much of a good thing.

Despite a mediocre first outing and a supremely disappointing sequel, the Expendables are at it again in the imaginatively-titled The Expendables 3. This time out, Barney (Stallone) has a mission go awry when an ex-Expendable (Mel Gibson) comes back from the dead to ruin Barney's day. After everything goes to hell, Caesar (Terry Crews) suffers a life-threatening injury, and Maniacal Mel gets away, Barney does the only logical thing the leader of the world's most elite kill squad would do. He fires his close knit family of Expendables and replaces them with a collection of young, idiotic hotheads who are even MORE expendable (expendabler?) and who possess the collective charisma of a melba cracker. Brilliant.

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By this point, you may have guessed that The Expendables 3 did not leave a lasting impression on yours truly. It is better than the previous film, yes, and the number of self-referential, wink-wink jokes are thankfully greatly reduced. And it's great to see Wesley Snipes back in action. However, this critic is unwilling to forgive whoever thought it made sense to completely squander Dolph Lundgren, Jet Li, Jason Statham and the other Expendables and give their well-earned screen time over to these new Forgettables. Argh.

The Video

Like the previous two Expendables films, Expendables 3 makes up for some of its story and acting shortcomings by delivering a technical presentation that can't be beat. In short, this is a truly spectacular high definition transfer. Lionsgate presents the film in its original 2.40:1 aspect ratio and it's a top shelf affair all the way around. Blacks are inky with exceptional shadow delineation. Skin tones look superb and fine detail is exceptional, particularly during the many facial close-ups. The CGI on display in the Unrated cut of the film is not great, but that's hardly a fault of the Blu-ray presentation. Some of it just looks like it was done on the cheap, which it most likely was.

The Audio

Not to be outdone, the audio portion of this Blu-ray presentation is gangbusters insane. Thunderous bass, constant and aggressive use of the surround channels, nicely-achored, intelligible dialogue (yes, even Stallone) - this disc has it all. Plus, unlike Warner's recent Gravity, Godzilla, and Edge of Tomorrow Blu-ray releases, Lionsgate has gone the extra mile and carried The Expendables 3's Dolby Atmos soundtrack over to its Blu-ray release - a welcome treat for Atmos early adopters. (Gravity, Godzilla, and Edge of Tomorrow each featured Dolby Atmos when in theaters, but Warner decided to forego including this cutting edge soundtrack option on Blu-ray. Boo. Hiss.)

If you don't have Dolby Atmos-capable hardware yet, don't fret. Neither do I. The additional height objects and surround enhancements of Atmos get layered on top of a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 foundation. This means that your existing hardware which is capable of decoding Dolby TrueHD should have no problems with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack like the one found on this Expendables 3 disc. In theory.

It's worth noting that during my first time through, I experienced several audio dropouts at moments of peak audio activity using my (admittedly aging) Onkyo receiver and trusty Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Disc player. After switching to PCM output on my Oppo, and then back to Bitstream, I was unable to reproduce the dropouts I heard initially. I'm not going to knock the soundtrack any points here on account of my somewhat dated hardware and the fact that I couldn't reproduce the problem despite repeated attempts. Still, it's a curiosity worth noting.

Editor Chris Boylan does have a Dolby Atmos rig and he had this to say about the Dolby Atmos track on the disc: "The Dolby Atmos mix makes great use of the height plane with airplane and helicopter flyovers, bullets raining down from above and mortar fire shooting over the viewers' heads. At 12:58, check out the transport plane flying directly overhead, perfectly matching the on-screen action. And the final conflict at the burned out hotel/casino is even more over-the-top (see what I did there?) thanks to Dolby Atmos. From 1:34:00 on, just press play, sit back and enjoy the immersive surround field of this battle royale."

The Extras

Although Lionsgate deserves kudos for this disc's phenomenal audio and video quality, the bonus material is sorely lacking. There's a lengthy "documentary" here but it's really just a string of fluffy interviews and nothing to write home about. The same is true for the shorter featurettes focused on the action and the new cast members. Everyone seems so excited about who's in the movie and they love to talk about the great movies these guys used to make. It's just too bad they couldn't channel that excitement and energy into making a great movie this time out.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, nothing I say here is going to matter. These guys have earned our respect as action stars and we all know that their films have never been critically acclaimed. You're going to see it for yourself. End of story. And I'm right there with you. I get it.  The Expendables franchise is 100% critic proof. Unfortunately, it seems the filmmakers are all too aware of this fact. As a result, they've set the bar much too low for themselves. Ironically, action junkies like myself are not hard to please. I just want to see stuff explode real good. I want to like the guys doing the exploding. And I want to have a fun time in the process. The Expendables 3 gets the first part right - and man do those explosions look and sound tremendous on this Blu-ray Disc! Sadly, the film comes up woefully short on all other fronts.

At this point, the Expendables franchise is like the Transformers franchise. I'm ready to admit I have an abusive, unhealthy relationship with these films. I know I'm going to be disappointed and I know it's going to hurt and frustrate more than titillate. And yet I keep coming back for more. Maybe this time it will be different. Maybe they've finally learned their lesson. (Note to self: the lesson they've learned is that they can keep making crap and we'll pay to watch it.)

See you in line for Expendables 4...

Product Details

  • Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Mel Gibson, Kelsey Grammer, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wesley Snipes, Dolph Lundgren, Antonio Banderas, Harrison Ford, and many more
  • Director: Patrick Hughes
  • Audio/Languages:Dolby Atmos  (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (Spanish)
  • Subtitles: English SDH, English, Spanish
  • Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
  • Number of Discs: 2
  • Rating: PG-13 (Theatrical) and Unrated
  • Disc Release Date: November 25, 2014
  • Run Time: 126 minutes
  • List Price: $39.99
  • Extras:
    • Unrated and Theatrical Cuts
    • Featurettes
    • Gag Reel
    • DVD edition
    • Ultraviolet Digital Copy

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View all articles by Greg Robinson
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